Mudslinging in US politics

MY LAST column, “Six years in office, seven AFP chiefs,” triggered a number of phone calls to let me know that I had forgotten Gen. Hernando DCA Iriberri in my listing of Armed Forces chiefs of staff during P-Noy’s term as Commander in Chief. Iriberri, who served for 10 months, took over in July 2015 from Gen. Gregorio Catapang. He was succeeded by Gen. Glorioso Miranda.

The next commander in chief must take a hard look at this situation and institute reforms that will provide fixed terms of office for the AFP chief of staff and the service commanders, and allow longer tours of duty for critical area commands. If the lowly barangay captain has a fixed term of three years set by law, it is outrageous that the AFP chief of staff is replaced almost on a yearly basis. The “revolving  door” arrangement has been a failure.

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Here’s another complaint from a senior citizen.

Last week, retired admiral Ramon Punzalan drove up to Purple Oven, a bakeshop on Temple Drive across from the Mormon Temple near Camp Aguinaldo. He presented his senior citizen ID in order to purchase some pastries. When the bill came, he noted that the brownies cost P520 with a senior citizen discount of P10. Purple Oven must be awfully poor in math. Punzalan was entitled to 20-percent discount plus exemption from VAT, as called for in the Expanded Senior Citizen Act of 2010.

Section 3 (f) of the law reads: “The 20 percent discount shall apply to Take-Out/Take-Home/Drive-Thru orders as long as the senior citizen is himself present and personally ordering and showing a valid senior citizen ID card.”

We need to amend the law so that the elderly can expect speedy action on their complaints as well as punishment for business firms not complying with the law.

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And more on problems besetting overseas voting.

Fr. Mariano “Junjun” Agruda, a Carmelite priest assigned in Rome, sent this message regarding his experience with the Philippine embassy in Italy:

“I registered to vote last October, as directed. They photocopied my passport and made me fill out a form. I was told this would suffice. Now, they are telling me I am not on the list of qualified voters. There is no trace of my name anywhere. They blame Comelec. They do not even give me the courtesy of a reply to my email regarding this situation. I want to exercise my obligation of suffrage but these people frustrate my basic rights.”

I have brought the matter to the attention of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, who is in charge of overseas voting. With timely intervention, hopefully Father Junjun will still be able to vote on May 9.

Father Junjun used to serve as parish priest at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Quezon City.

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A lot of folks were upset, unhappy, outraged and, among his supporters, saddened, by Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s brand of humor. But if it will temper emotions, here are samplings of the insults and mudslinging going on in the US presidential race.

From Donald Trump, frontrunner for the GOP (Republican) presidential nomination:

• On Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, early contender for the GOP nomination and now the choice of his opponent Sen. Ted Cruz as his running mate if he wins the nomination—“Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president!”

• On Megyn Kelly, Fox News talk show host—“She had blood coming out of her wherever” (a reference to the menstrual period) when she was grilling him on his history of insulting women.

• On women in general, including Rosie O’Donnell—“Fat pigs and slobs.”

Trump was not joking when he made those remarks. Also, he posted online an unflattering picture of Cruz’s wife Heidi alongside a glamorous photo of his wife Melania, with the line “The images are worth a thousand words.”

It should come as no surprise that recent CNN polls show that 73 percent of American women have a negative view of Trump.  The same holds true for African-Americans, Latinos, and young voters.

Former US House Speaker John Boehner referred to Cruz as “the devil incarnate,” “Lucifer in the flesh,” and “a jackass.” Boehner also said: “I have never worked with a more miserable son of a b*tch in my life.”

Sen. John McCain called Cruz a “wacko bird.”

Cruz is hoping that Trump does not get the 1,237 delegate votes  needed to win the nomination outright. A second or third vote on the convention floor will give him a fighting chance. Unfortunately, he is intensely disliked by the GOP establishment, as seen from the comments of some leading members of his own party.

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Incidentally, just last week former US House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison for sexual abuse of minors under his care and responsibility during his stint as a high school athletic coach. Hastert is one of the highest, if not the highest, US government official to be sent to prison in recent years. Three Illinois governors were sent to prison for various offenses committed during their time in office.

How many of our government officials already convicted by the Sandiganbayan are serving time in jail? Often, motions for reconsideration and appeals keep them out of jail and, after a while, the cases are forgotten or maybe important documents get lost. An inventory of former government officials in jail should be worth the effort. If certain prisoners in the national penitentiary can enjoy all kinds of special privileges, it would not be surprising if former high-ranking government officials are also enjoying those privileges because of past favors and connections.